Planning should be based on facts, not guesswork. Knowing how to properly take stock of important data can unlock future opportunities, establish clear goals, and help make decisions. We’ve put together this list of 10 ways dealership data management software can help you evaluate the assets, people, and data that make up your company and, with the help of ASPEN, run reports with ease.

1. Determine which rentals are the most profitable. Use ASPEN’s Financial Utilization reporting to assess the time and dollar utilization figures on your entire list of equipment. Which categories should you keep, eliminate, or expand? Knowing this will help you manage rental’s biggest challenge: cash flow management. Remember to consider the RTS and RTR categories separately.
2. Check-in with your employees. Hold a meeting with both department heads and key line employees to pick their brains about any recurring issues they’re experiencing in day-to-day operations.
3. End relationships that put a drain on your cash flow. Review your credit and collection policy. Which customers have violated your agreement repeatedly? Who still owes? Has anyone slipped through the cracks?
4. Double-check whether or not you are overstaffed. With the help of ASPEN’s advanced reporting options, you can view Sales/Gross per salesperson. Compare employees who generate income with those who don’t. What is the ratio of income producers to total staff? If you find that only a small percentage of employees are doing the bulk of the work it’s time to reassess outdated procedures and put a plan into action that mobilizes the less lucrative part of the workforce.
5. Clean out financial clutter. Review your spending records for the most recent fiscal year. Are you making payments towards parts or labor that no longer serve the big picture? Trim the fat. You never know what lingering monthly payment could be eating away at your margins.
6. Make sure you’re focusing your relationship-building efforts on the top percentile of your customer base. Combine the powers of ASPEN’s CRM and Customer Vision Screens to pinpoint these clients and keep track of your networking efforts. The top 20% of your customers should create roughly 80% of your revenue. Run a report via your dealership data management software to assess customer revenue for the most recent year to date. Run a second report to see customer revenue for the past three years. Which names appear on both lists? What can you do to better their experience? Make sure you develop new strategies for catering to this targeted audience.
7. Add a quarterly check in to your routine. Review the last three years. Go through individual departments and compare them against the CODB numbers.
8. Review the cash flow statement up close and personal. Determine if you’re making more money from operations or assets. Make adjustments where needed.
9. Take a closer look at your inventory. Create a list of new and used parts. Remember to include works-in-progress. How much cash has been spent on ineffective or outdated equipment? Eliminate junk.
10. Consider using a more advanced management system. Chances are your dealership data management software is outdated or no longer complex enough for how much your company has grown over the years. What unique tools do you need to keep reviewing your rental business? Does your current system offer them?

With ASPEN’s dealership data management software, your agriculture business (or business in any number of similar industries) can easily and seamlessly tackle all ten of these tasks. So, if you’re looking to upgrade your current dealership data management software, consider requesting a demo of ASPEN by filling out our simple form here.